Own Your Style Decalogue 8. Express Yourself.

Self-expression and individuality

Having your own personal style, is a great way of expressing your personality and it should belong to everyone of us.
We belong to the same culture and therefore we share ideas about elegance, fashion and modesty, but we still should look for ways of expressing ourselves in unique ways. Far from being the slaves of consumer culture, we can navigate it with individuality and, hopefully, at least a bit of a conscience. The possibilities are virtually infinite, most importantly because human beings joyfully come in many colours, shapes and heights, but also because personality matters, and so does cultural background.
In this blog, you will not find ways to imitate someone else's style. I do like writing sometimes about the style of female characters (for instance, Joan Harris from Mad Men) or public figures who show a distinctive personality when dressing (Madeline Albright comes immediately to mind), but the aim is not to copy, but to see how other women have developed a personal (and unique) style of their own. The aim of this blog is that you end up looking, each in you own style, really good.
Do you know Bill Cunningham? He is a New York Times institution who is a great fan of individuality. What is most striking in his series of videos "On the Street", is how much joy he gets out other people's fashion expressions, their spontaneity and creativity. He has seen decades of style (he is in his 70s now) in one of the most fashionable cities in the world but remains un-jaded. His attitude is contagious. And democratic.

What is great personal style

When you think a person has great style, what do you mean exactly? You mean that what she (or he) wears really suits her. You can then see a piece of clothing and think: "That is so she".
Also, that person's clothes simply seem to "just look better". That means her clothes really fit and compliment her, even look expensive. Why? Because they are in the right colours (that suit her complexion, make her eyes shine), in the right cut and materials (the most flattering for her body shape, height and built, and probably the best quality she can afford). She may even look taller and slimmer because she has created a long, unbroken line with her outfit. Well, it can be the same thing for everybody.
This process of developing or keeping a great personal style is fun... and also a lot of work, at least at the beginning, if you do not know who you are or if your wardrobe does not reflect you.
From studies to work, from one position to another (different requirements), having children, moving (from one country to another or inside the same one to a different lifestyle or weather or mores). All these affect your wardrobe, and maybe it has been a long time since you have had time for yourself.
In the meantime, your body has changed. Instead of looking at yourself in the mirror and lamenting what it was and could be, assess it as objectively as you can and take pride and pleasure in it. You deserve it.
Your wardrobe can be an ally in presenting yourself to the world. How you get there is the objective of this blog.

MORE?
Click on the Own Your Style tab above or follow the Own Your Style Decalogue label below.

Own Your Style Decalogue 7. Know that Fabric Matters

The Importance of Fabric

Three maxims

1. Always think about bulk and volume of fabric in relation to your own body.
2. Always go for good quality or, at least, the best quality you can afford.
3. Always choose fabrics that you have the time and the money to care for.

1. Fabric is key to your Fit, Silhouette, and Proportions. Why?

The difference in bulk and volume. First, think about the same A-line skirt in a floaty silk versus a bouclé wool, and then again about the same skirt in a shiny satin or a matte mid weight jersey. The difference in the bulk and volume among these four pieces should be evident, so always think about bulk and volume of fabric in relation to your own body.
Your height and size determine what fabrics you can pull off. Clingy or shiny materials only work on the slimmest, most of us need fabrics with some substance not to show everything. Taller people can wear heavier fabrics without being overwhelmed.

2. Fabric affects your pocket

Bad quality fabric, in the end, really is more expensive, both in terms of time and money, as you have to keep going back for replacements of the very same thing. In conclusion, go always for good quality or, at least, the best quality you can afford.
A word about quality out there. Let's face it, quality is plummeting everywhere. It seems that brands do not think they have to offer the same quality they used to, so they are selecting worse fabrics every year that passes. And believe me, the people making those decisions know what they are doing, and they do it because they know most consumers do not even check the composition label before buying something and because the importance of trends makes most garments bought one season, over by the next. Not unsurprisingly, the keep on charging the same prices...
So... why bother? Well, apart from the ecological implications of buying and throwing away stuff in an endless circle, there are time implications too. I don't know you, but I don't want to go every season looking for all my basics and buy them again. Everybody should have a wardrobe full of basics that should be considered as investments, to which cheaper (and easy to find) items can be added. More on wardrobe building in the future.

3. Fabric affects your lifestyle

No matter how adequate a fabric is for your, or how good the quality is, if it is dry clean only (but don't believe all labels, dry cleaning is not always necessary), consider that when buying a garment. Dry cleaning is expensive, most of the time not ecological, and ages garments disproportionally. Consider also the time you will need to spend ironing and if you have it.

Own Your Style Decalogue 6. Learn about Silhouette, Fit, Proportion, The Right Length and the Almighty Unbroken Line.

The ideal

The ideal all clothes should ALWAYS achieve for ALL body types is:

1. Strike up a balance between upper body and lower body. Your clothes should help you achieve a balanced silhouette and make your body look proportionate.
2. Create a long unbroken line.

I will be considering your body from a 360º perspective, ie. from all angles, as a whole. This means the following things have to be considered ALWAYS when choosing a garment or outfit.

First things first: Silhouette, Proportion, and Fit (SPF)

Silhouette

Silhouette is the outline shape created on your body, your contours. In Kendall Farr's words:

Your silhouette, the essential frame you are born with is the beginning of any conversation you have with clothes. Our measurements change (...) but your frame remains the one constant in the equation. (Farr, The Pocket Stylist, 2004)

How to achieve it?

1. Dress simply what you want to downplay or de-emphasize.
2. Reserve embellishment, colour, pattern, and trendy items for what you want to highlight. 

Proportion

Proportion is the relation the pieces in an outfit have to one another.  For instance, you should avoid:

• Any garment that makes you short-waisted, ie, if you are wearing high-waisted trousers (and few look good in them), watch out for deep necklines that will visually shorten your torso.
• Any garment that makes you short-legged, for example, all but the tallest should avoid cuffed trousers.
• Wearing a baggy top with a baggy bottom: you will loose all shape.
• Wide silhouettes when you are Petite. Actually, proportion is ALL  important for petites.

Fit

Fit is how an specific garment adjusts to your body. Clothing has to be considered visually from all angles and in motion. Is something pulling, puckering, gaping, baggy or saggy?
Check:

1. Everywhere buttons close, especially across your bust.
2. Around your armholes and your stomach.
3. Fabric across your hips and belly: are there horizontal lines? do pockets gape?
4. Fabric across your bottom and crotch. Same questions.
5. Bra lines: especially across your back (do the straps dig in and create fat rolls?) and at the front (can you see the shape or the seams of the bra?). Bras should be invisible under your clothes.

SPF and You: Your checklist
Designers think of new silhouettes every season or more correctly, different ways of presenting the same silhouettes. Then they go for different proportions and fits. Maxi skirts and maxi dresses with flats, blousons with skinny trousers, palazzo trousers with strong-shouldered, cropped jackets... Some of these combinations will look good on you, but not others. So ask yourself:

1. Is the silhouette right for me?  ie. Will the shape and cut of a garment flatter you? Imagine yourself in a certain outfit only as an outward line. Is there balance between your upper and lower body?
2. Are the proportions right for me? ie. Does the garment flatter your body or does it make you look e.g. short-legged, busty, short-waisted, or that you have no neck?
3. Is the fit right? Is it too tight for comfort or so loose it is impossible to imagine your shape (and consequently, makes you bigger)?

Second, consider the importance of The Right Length (TRL)

Dresses and skirts

Independently of your body type, your best length is usually just above or just below the knee, as there your legs look longest and slimmest. That said:

1. Skirts that hit at knee length are universally flattering for all body types. 
2. If you have great legs, you can raise your hemline a bit above your knee if that's on trend, but consider the occasion, your profession and its age-appropriateness. Above a certain age, it's time to cover up or it will look like you are trying too hard.
3. Minimum length is one that hits the end of your hand when you stand with your arms resting against your body. A good rule of thumb is that, except for the youngest, skirts shouldn't be wider than longer.
4. Always sit down, cross your legs, and bend in your dress or skirt to see if the length is still comfortable for you or makes you self-conscious. The upper part of your hosiery should never be on display.

Trousers

Always create the longest possible leg length, unless you have very long legs and are short-waisted. You will need to have trousers in different trousers lengths for that.
The rules:

1. Always hem your trousers according to the heel of your shoe: flats, kitten heels and high-heeled shoes will determine the best length for your trousers.
2. Wear your trousers half and inch from the floor, this will create the longest possible line. Longer, and you will be sweeping the floor, getting dirty hems and looking sloppy. Shorter and it will look as if you outgrew your trousers.
3. Creases make legs longer and bottoms slimmer. Iron them through a clean cotton cloth to make them razor sharp.
4. Turned up hems make you shorter, so avoid them unless you are tall.

Sleeves

The eye is drawn to any significant amount of skin on display, so your arms can become the centre of attention in certain styles. Taking that into account always think about where the end of the sleeve hits your arm and ask yourself... is that my slimmest part?

1. Three-quarter length sleeves are universally flattering, as wrists are usually the thinnest part of the arm.
2. Sleeveless tops are the best option for those with well-toned, slim arms.
3. Cap sleeves, if you carry weight on your arms, will hit them at their widest part and make them even thicker.

Finally, achieve The Almighty Unbroken Line (AUL)

All of us, except the Tall and slim, should always try to create the longest, leaner line when getting dressed. This is what Kendall Farr calls the "almighty unbroken line". She's a genius.
How to achieve it:

1. Look for monochromatic and tonal colour combinations between you tops and bottoms.
2. Avoid horizontal colour blocking, unless it creates strategic vertical lines (for instance, panels at the sides of the body) or horizontal lines, although those will cut your figure in half (or three, four parts), so think about that beforehand.
3. Avoid any horizontal stripes created through colour or pattern. Any horizontal line at a critical point (muffin top, saddlebags), will visually widen it.
4. Avoid horizontal lines created through cut.  Cuffed trousers will shorten your legs. Capri trousers will do the same thing unless you have slim legs or wear at least a 2" heel.

Own Your Style Decalogue 5: Dress for Your Body Type

I hereby declare I will stick to my boot cut trousers

Part about being stylish is, obviously, dressing for one's body type. I doesn't matter that skinny jeans are all the rage or that cigarette trousers are "a must" according to fashion broadcasters: if I don't look good in them (I do not achieve my best silhouette in them), I'm not wearing them. Full stop.

Know your body type

What is always foremost in my mind is something I read in Kendall Farr's 'The Pocket Stylist", a decade ago now, because that was the beginning of it all for me:

Your silhouette, the essential frame you are born with is the beginning of any conversation you have with clothes. Our measurements change (...) but your frame remains the one constant in the equation.

Why is this reasoning so important? I think it is the beginning of self acceptance. Most women a very unrealistic image of their own bodies and their opinion of it is completely devoid of self esteem. We are also constantly bombarded by completely false images (digitally altered) that are impossible to uphold.
As a result, many women start talking about their bodies pointing at what is wrong with them, and so do most magazine articles and books, who like to use those parts as the starting point for styling tips. You may have found yourself in front of the mirror wondering why you never look good in your clothes, or not as good as you would like to look .I don't think that helps.
Instead of defining ourselves by the part of our body that makes us feel worse in the changing room, we can see ourselves as a whole, know what looks best and worst, accept it and move on.
A good understanding of your body is not only key to feeling happy about yourself, but also to building a successful wardrobe that goes with that happy person.

Just A, B, C. The ideal and how to achieve it.

When talking about body types I prefer to follow Kendall Farr's categories of A, B, and C, because I think her idea of our not being pieces of fruit or geometric figures is actually very refreshing. There are no connotations in letters.

LOOK CLOSELY...

AND DECIDE:

• Body Type A. Her shoulders and torso are narrower than her hips. This body shape is usually called "pear" or "triangle".
• Body Type B. Her shoulders and torso are roughly the same width as your hips, and her waist is very clearly defined. This body shape is usually called "hourglass".
• Body Type C. Her shoulders are wider than her hips, with little definition at the waist. This body shape is usually called "apple" or "inverted triangle".

You can read more on body types reading the page Like Your Body at the top of the blog or following the labels Body Type A, Body Type B, and Body Type C. You can also follow one of the characters in my blog with your body type and then mix and match with other characters' style and/or seasonal palette if they are not yours.

The ideal

What should clothes ALWAYS achieve for ALL body types?

• Strike up a balance between upper body and lower body. 
• Create a long unbroken line.

How to achieve it?

1. Dress simply what you want to downplay or de-emphasize.
2. Reserve embellishment, colour, pattern, and trendy items for what you want to highlight.

Own Your Style Decalogue 4. Be Colour Savvy

The importance of colour

Most colour decisions you make will affect how you look dramatically. Think "Are you feeling OK?" versus "You look so good in that colour (by which they mean shade, but we don't want to be pedantic)", that I'm sure you have heard before.
The right colours and shades will make your skin glow, and your eye colour pop out. For a Deep Winter, for example, one such really flattering colour (or shade) is cobalt blue.
So, it is not only that you are wearing the right colour, it has to be the right shade. Saying "blue" doesn't really mean much, there are thousands of shades of blue, from the palest to the darkest, mixed with bits of red, yellow...

Don't be a (insert name of colour here) casualty!

Every year, come September, the racks are filled with Autumn colours, very much in the same way it is appropriate to eat strawberries in spring and summer, because it is indeed a lovely palette. Well, every year, in Spain, a country mostly populated by Deep Autumns and Deep Winters, you can see tons of what I call "orange casualties": that half of the population that does not look good in orange, most browns, or greens. They could have stocked up on bottoms in the Autumn palette, sure, but not on tops.
The same way not everybody looks good in shades of orange, it happens with the rest of colours, so it's of the utmost importance to learn when to include them, and when not, in your wardrobe.

How to go about learning?

You can use books. I recommend you Color Me Beautiful's (CMB) Looking Your Best by Mary Spillane and Christine Sherlock, 1995). The basic idea of the CMB people is that there are people who look best in cool shades (in the Summer and Winter palettes), and people who look best in warm shades (in the Spring and Autumn palettes).
You can use blogs and webpages. You can start with my blog, of course, which include description of how the people who look good in a season palette look like (eye colour, hair colour, general complexion), the palettes themselves and then sets I have made on Polyvore with those colours. To see the palettes, you can follow the labels on the right for the four palettes: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

MORE?

• Follow the label Colour savvy, a multiple part ongoing tutorial about how to become colour savvy, tricks to wear fashionable colours and more.
• Trend labels on the column to the right will include information about fashionable colours and who looks good in them.

Own Your Style Decalogue 3. Digest Trends

Trend broadcasting

Every year, designers at the top send down the runway their fashion proposals which, within the limits of their creative sensibility, offer slightly different silhouettes, proportions and colours than previous season's. Those are the Trends. Then the rest of the fashion industry broadcasts it to the world, and you can see them everywhere, from high end to high street.
Those things that are always fashionable, the Classics, are also reinterpreted every season within every designer's sensibility, but on different pieces, scale or materials. I'm talking, for instance, about the saharienne (the safari jacket, that 1968's YSL creation), the trench coat, or the blue jeans. The classics also trickle down the fashion ladder in all price ranges.
The idea is to keep things interesting in order to keep us buying. And they do both.

Trend fun

Trends are great because they let us have fun with fashion. They add interest to what could be an otherwise immutable wardrobe. Boring.

Trend digesting... Don't be a fashion casualty.

Trends are like a chocolate shop's display window: because it is there, it doesn't mean you have to eat it all.

1. Trends have to be dissected for what suits you: your body shape, height, weight, and lifestyle.

For instance, if full skirts look good on you, take advantage of the Mad Men influence on fashion in the last half decade and buy some pieces. If doesn't suit you at all, they may be ways of getting away with it if it's that important to you. Accessories are actually a great way of doing that.

2. Trends and wardrobe-building.

In conclusion, trends are just opportunities to stock up on what goes well your style, and perhaps to incorporate something new into your wardrobe.
But don't get to the point of buying a necklace and find that you need to buy a whole new outfit to go with it. That is exactly the opposite of how good wardrobe building works: instead of adding interesting pieces to your foundation ones (theoretically more expensive and bought as investments to last you years), you would go the other way round. That kind of logic would indeed be very "Alice in Wonderland".

Own Your Style Decalogue 2: Own Fashion... and not the other way round.

What does this mean?

It means, first and foremost, that what you wear suits YOU. It is flattering for YOUR body type, for YOUR complexion, for YOUR budget, and for YOUR lifestyle. It is not what what somebody out there hopes to sell to you in order to send their children to a private Swiss school with your money. Really, there should be only one type of clothes in your wardrobe: the ones that fit you and flatter your shape.
It also means that you are avoiding the feeling of dissatisfaction one can sometimes get with the constant bombardment with things to buy. It never seems to be enough.
It is a change of point of view that is empowering. Instead of the passive recipient of media artillery, try to cast a critical look out there and say: "OK, but what of all these is really for me?".

Why does it matter?
 
Because it matters to others.
We live in an image-dominated culture. I can very well believe that people should not be judged by what they are wearing, but that is not what happens. In fact, all sorts of signals are sent when you wear anything, and it is a perfectly normal human behaviour. So let's not fool ourselves, the world out there not only notices how you are presenting yourself, it also judges you by it. In consequence, many things depend on image, both in our personal life and our professional live. I think things are still especially tough for women, who are judged by what they are wearing much more than men are, or perhaps I should say, in more senses.

Because it matters to you.

The importance of image in our culture is very often reflected in issues of body image and self-confidence.

How not to? We are constantly bombarded by completely false images (digitally altered) that are impossible to meet. There is also a lot of attention paid to our (perceived) defects, and the remedies (mostly false or just plain ineffective) for it.
Many of us may cover our insecurities saying we don't care, but we do, even if it is only in a very small voice when we are alone. We hold so many misconceptions about our own body that the image we have of it is sometimes highly unrealistic or, worse, terribly unflattering. Younger women are especially vulnerable to this pressure, but sometimes the situation prolongs itself into adulthood.
Most women start talking about their bodies pointing at what is wrong with them, and many magazine articles and books like to use those parts as the starting point of any conversation about clothes.

What you wear plays a huge role in your self image too.
We both trust our clothes to introduce us to the world every day in the most convenient way, and we also want them, at the same time, to make us happy. We need to to fit in AND be us at the same time.
However, there is so much information and so much pulling and pushing in different directions, that one finds oneself quite lost.

Own Your Style Decalogue 1: Know Fashion.

KNOW FASHION 

Know your Fashion (with a capital "F") facts:

Fashion is a form or artistic expression. Some times you must have wondered, what are designers thinking about when the send their pieces down the runway every season? Well, like other artists, they are trying to express their ideas on fashion through different silhouettes, combinations of proportions, and sensibilities. You can usually recognize different brands for their style, very much the same way one can recognize a certain artist in her/his paintings. Runway fashion is mostly about this self expression and much less about real women and their bodies.
Fashion is a business. Designers need to sell their creations, obviously. The idea is to keep things interesting in order to keep us buying. And they do both. Fashion and style magazines and websites are part of that business also.

Know your Fashion lies:

1. You must have a model's figure to be stylish and fashionable. Wrong: then only one individual in a million (really tall women who have the size of most 14-year-olds? That's VERY rare) would be stylish. Models are chosen because designers want canvases on which they can express freely what they want to say. I think lots of them actually consider real women's bodies, to put it mildly, "inconvenient".
2. You are more stylish when you are wearing a designer item. Should you feel more confident because you are wearing a really expensive item, possibly with lots of logos (or even a small one) on display? The answer is no, because what you are doing, in fact is, either displaying your monetary status quite unashamedly, or that you don't mind advertising someone else's product for free. It also shows some lack of imagination to the ones in the know, as you don't show a lot of personal criteria and individuality about fashion.
3. You are more stylish when you are wearing the latest trend/s. You may be wearing this season's absolute must-have item, or the latest fashionable colour. But do they really flatter you?
4. You can actually wear clothes off the rack. False: most pieces of clothing need adjustments to fit any woman's bodies well. The sizing on the racks seems to be, most of the times, pure conjecture, and to top it all, highly inconsistent in most brands.

SHUT OUT THE NOISE

In the end, there are only two kinds of clothes in the fashion universe: those that fit and flatter your body shape and size, and those that not. (Farr, 2004)

Simple? Well, to achieve it you need to shut out all the noise.
Most of that noise comes from the Fashion industry itself, via the fashion and style magazines and websites. None of them are there to educate you, but to make you buy things.
More specifically, those in the style business (from www.style.com downwards), who are effectively in charge of broadcasting what is new and what is next, are there to make a profit and to continue existing, like any other business. They do that through selling advertising space, which means those who spend big money in advertising, will also receive tons of editorial mentions in a kind of self-fullfilled profecy.
They can be great fun if you manage to start seeing them just as huge ads with bits of information mixed in, but they are definitely not a good guide to great personal style.